Change Starts With Us: Sophie Beer

 

Beginning our new year, it's good to be reminded Change Starts With Us! With straightforward text, author/illustrator Sophie Beer illustrates how even the smallest hands can create change. We all can save water, pick up litter, and plant trees. We can recycle, save power, and shop local. 

Adorable, flat, vibrant illustrations bring youthfulness to the imagery as children assist adults and each other in affecting change. Together we can care for our beloved world. 

Happy new year to you and your readertotz! Happy reading and learning! 

Change Starts With Us

by Sophie Beer

Dial Books, 2021

Poetry Friday: Goodnight Bubbala

Enjoy this parody of Goodnight Moon with your happy mishpacha and welcome Hanukkah. With text by Sheryl Haft and illustration by Jill Weber, your first reader will be ready to help you make latkes before you to read Goodnight Bubbala again! A Yiddish glossary may inform and expand vocabularies.

"Goodnight room
Goodnight schmatta
Goodnight mishpacha noshing on latkes"

Happy Hanukkah and Poetry Friday!

Goodnight Bubbala, a Joyful Parody
by Sheryl Haft
illustrated by Jill Weber
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2019

Kindness Makes Us Strong: Sophie Beer

Exactly what we need! Kindness described for our first readers. Sophie Beer has tackled the definition through text and art with the help of Dial Books in this large format board book, Kindness Makes Us Strong.

"Kindness is...
saying hello.
Kindness is...
being patient."

Each simply stated fact is illustrated with eager children demonstrating the concept. There's a vibrancy to the color, line, and detail that energizes kindness.

As the year comes to a close, we can remember:

"Kindness is...
what
makes
us strong!"

Kindness Makes Us Strong
by Sophie Beer
Dial Books for Young Readers, December 24, 2019

Poetry Friday: After the Bell Rings

Here's a collection of poems centered on all things after school. Read a few for this Poetry Friday!

Escape

Out of the prison gates I slip,
I zig and zag, I dodge and dip,
Through the dark forest of towering trees,
Leaving no trail for my enemies.
Across the wild river on a narrow log,
Past the castle with the howling wolf-dog,
One last mad dash! I got home okay!
Good thing that my school is just three blocks away.

After the Bell Rings, Poems About After-School Time
by Carol Diggory Shields
illustrated by Paul Meisel
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2015

January for the Older Sibling: Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake

 

When I read the quote on the back of this picture book, I knew it was going to be a book I liked. It turned out to be a book I love.

"I am going to marry chocolate cake!" ~ Betty Bunny

I said things like this when I was a kid. In fact, I'd still like to marry chocolate chip cookies. The situations, characters, and dialogue are full of wry humor and realism, all of which rings true and entertains.

At its core, this story is about waiting and learning to be patient. Many kids (and grown-ups) struggle with this. It's hard to wait for something as wonderful as chocolate cake, right? But after a first delicious taste, Betty  must wait for another piece. She throws a temper tantrum and huffs to her room.

I laughed when Betty's mom tells her: I still love you.

And Betty replies: And I still love chocolate cake.

Kids everywhere will relate to Betty and her frustrations, and they'll laugh at her hijinks and at the book's ending.

Keep an eye out for Betty Bunny Wants Everything, coming February 2012.

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake
Author: Michael B. Kaplan
Illustrator: Stephane Jorisch
Publisher: Dial Books, May 2011

Edward Unready for School: Rosemary Wells

How cute is this? Although it's not a board book, it's a nice size for totz at 7"x7", 24 pages. Part of a series of Edward books by Rosemary Wells, it deals with a fear. In this case, it's the fear of going to school for the first time. However, it doesn't have the traditional ending one might expect -- the main character realizing he is ready for school.

After a series incidents indicating that Edward really isn't ready for play school quite yet . . .

"Edward's teacher said, Not everyone is ready for the same things at the same time."
"We'll just take him home until he is ready," said Edward's mother and father.

This comes a few pages before the actual ending of the book, but I think the lines are immensely reassuring. A child who might feel like a failure for being "unready" for some feat may well be relieved.

And who can resist Rosemary Wells' adorable illustrations of Edward? His expressions of uncertainty at the prospect of school are realistic and touching.

I love this book!

Edward Unready for School
author-illustrator: Rosemary Wells
Dial Books, 1995

~ Joan Holub, author-illustrator